Cloud Stack for AI Apps — Mastery1 / 8
The Opinionated AI Product Stack
Choosing infrastructure is where weeks vanish. Here is a default stack that lets a small team ship an AI product in days — and when to deviate.
The fastest way to not ship is to spend week one choosing infrastructure. This series gives you a default that works, so you spend your weeks on the product instead.
The default stack
- Vercel — the app layer (Next.js, edge, deploys on push).
- Supabase — Postgres, auth, storage, and pgvector for RAG, in one place.
- Stripe — payments and subscriptions.
- Resend — transactional email that reaches the inbox.
- AWS — the escape hatch for the few things the managed path can't do.
The principle: managed until it hurts
Start fully managed. You trade some cost and control for speed and reliability you'd otherwise build yourself badly. Reach for AWS only when a specific need (heavy async jobs, GPU inference, niche services) outgrows the managed path — and only for that piece.
The rest of the series wires each piece together — app, data, payments, email, and the AWS escape hatch — into a product you can ship this week.
Series — Cloud Stack for AI Apps — Mastery
- Part 01The Opinionated AI Product Stack — you are hereChoosing infrastructure is where weeks vanish. Here is a default stack that lets a small team ship an AI product in days — and when to deviate.
- Part 02Next.js on Vercel — The App LayerOne framework for UI, API and server rendering; one platform that deploys on git push. The app layer should be the part you never think about.
- Part 03Supabase — Postgres, Auth & Storage in OneReal Postgres, auth, file storage and pgvector behind one SDK. For an AI product, having your data and your vectors in the same database is a quiet superpower.
- Part 04Stripe — Payments & SubscriptionsCharging money is a solved problem — if you let Stripe solve it. Checkout, subscriptions, and the webhook that is the real source of truth.
- Part 05Resend — Transactional Email That LandsThe receipt, the download link, the password reset — if they hit spam, your product feels broken. Deliverability is a feature.
- Part 06AWS — When You Outgrow the Managed PathThe managed stack covers 90% of an AI product. AWS is the escape hatch for the other 10% — long jobs, GPU inference, large files. Use it surgically.
- Part 07Secrets, Env & Config Across EnvironmentsFive services, three environments, one leaked key away from a bad week. Config discipline is unglamorous and non-negotiable.
- Part 08Shipping in Days — The Wiring PlaybookThe whole stack assembled into a build order: from empty repo to a paid, emailing, AI-powered product in a working week.